But can it really be addressed? Centralized systems will probably always be easier to use. For example, if you want to follow a lemmy community, it will be community@somewhere instead of just the community name, and it will be possible to have competing communities with the same same but different servers. This will always leave people confused, and it’s something inherent to the federated model
That’s part of the problem. Confusion like this just leads people to not engage with the platform. I suppose it is what it is and just enjoy this place while there are still people here.
To complement my previous comment, I believe the best course for us would be, instead of trying to address something that will never be better than in centralized networks, to try creating things that are great and exclusive to the fediverse. People can deal with minor inconveniences if they get some unique experience in exchange
Open source content serving algorithms? We’d need to classify the content and have a server that recommends based on the algorithm. Also, user tracking to some degree (but maybe that can be handled locally?)
I think a simple ‘popular’ or ‘trending’ feed wouldn’t need user tracking. Or if it was really needed to be customized maybe users could opt into share what topics they are interested in when they sign up
Ease of use is one of the failings of the federation that needs to be addressed or it will never have a larger pool of users.
But can it really be addressed? Centralized systems will probably always be easier to use. For example, if you want to follow a lemmy community, it will be community@somewhere instead of just the community name, and it will be possible to have competing communities with the same same but different servers. This will always leave people confused, and it’s something inherent to the federated model
That’s part of the problem. Confusion like this just leads people to not engage with the platform. I suppose it is what it is and just enjoy this place while there are still people here.
To complement my previous comment, I believe the best course for us would be, instead of trying to address something that will never be better than in centralized networks, to try creating things that are great and exclusive to the fediverse. People can deal with minor inconveniences if they get some unique experience in exchange
How can we create something exclusive to the fediverse?
Open source content serving algorithms? We’d need to classify the content and have a server that recommends based on the algorithm. Also, user tracking to some degree (but maybe that can be handled locally?)
I think a simple ‘popular’ or ‘trending’ feed wouldn’t need user tracking. Or if it was really needed to be customized maybe users could opt into share what topics they are interested in when they sign up